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Museum Exhibit Uses Corpses to Educate, Fascinate; INNER BEAUTY

Posted on: Monday, 15 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

You get an unsettled feeling when you realize you're about to come face to face with two dozen preserved human corpses. The vague sensation you feel is hard to pin down there's foreboding, yet fascination; a sense of indecency, yet innate curiosity.

Finally, intrigue gets the better of you and with a deep breath you march in into the "Body Worlds" museum exhibit featuring 27 dissected corpses, each specially preserved and whimsically posed.

The first display, The Teacher, stops you in your tracks. The figure holds an open book in one hand and a piece of chalk in the other, but it's hard to get past the one thing that's missing: skin.

So begins your tour of the human body, courtesy of Gunther von Hagens and his "Body Worlds" exhibit, on display through Sept. 5 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Von Hagens, an anesthesiologist by training, invented the distinctive preservation technique in 1977 as a way to improve medical school lessons.

Called plastination, the process involves replacing the body's fluids with a plastic resin. Then the specimen is set into a pose and treated with heat and gas to produce a rigid structure. The plastic prevents the specimen, or plastinate, from decomposing and the odorless tissues retain their vivid colors.

The result is difficult to describe. Though most people have seen anatomy books since high school, the three-dimensional plastinates provide a view unlike anything they've seen before. To von Hagens, that's the point.

He believes people deserve a clearer understanding of their bodies. Physicians learn anatomy through medical school dissections, he said, but laypeople also deserve an in-depth look at the human body's beauty.

"The message is, Remember, you're mortal,' " von Hagens said. "The plastinates remind us, I was once what you are, and I am what you will be.' "

On a recent weekday, the Chicago exhibit attracts a diverse crowd, from fourth-graders on a school-sponsor-ed field trip to elderly people with canes, and all ages in between.

Adults and kids gaze wide-eyed at the plastinates, circling each specimen slowly to study its details intently. Patrons alternate between excited exclamations and hushes of subdued awe.

"Look, that's the clavicle, the bone your brother broke," says a woman to a young boy.

"Look, that's the ligament I tore in my knee," whispers another woman to a friend.

That's what makes the exhibit so educational, said Patricia Ward, the museum's exhibit developer.

"People see body parts they've heard of, and now they can relate what they see to their own bodies," Ward said.

Closer look

The full-body plastinates are only part of the show. Smaller displays feature individual bones and organs, as well as joints with knee and hip replacement hardware still inside them.

The displays reflect the teaching philosophy that it's better to show than to lecture, and what some displays show is hauntingly compelling. The most startling example is a smoker's lungs whose tarred and stained lobes silently speak volumes juxtaposed with a non-smoker's pink lungs.

"This changes everything," said Anita Smith of Chicago, who is a smoker. "I've been trying to quit, and now that's it."

A separate display features the aorta, the artery that carries blood from the heart to the body. A normal aorta has been split lengthwise to reveal a peach-colored strip that looks as smooth as the inside of a drinking straw. Next to it lies an atherosclerosis victim's aorta, a lumpy and misshapen strip that looks like an unpaved road fraught with gravel, bumps and potholes.

"Ew, those are Taco Bell arteries," said Melody Gambrel of Posen, Ill. "It's disgusting it makes me not want to eat fast food anymore."

Though some patrons expressed disgust, few complained about the corpses themselves. People's fascination with what they were learning seemed to make them forget about the specter of death around them. Squeals of "Ooh, look at this!" would melt into lapses of silent reverence.

Whimsical poses

The full-body plastinates are set in lifelike poses. Chess Player sits in front of a chess board, his brain exposed and nerve system carefully teased out. Basketball Player palms a ball in another exhibit that showcases the muscular system.

Other specimens ride a bike, jump a hurdle or swim. One figure gazes thoughtfully at his outstretched hand from which drapes the single continuous sheet of his entire suit of skin.

Von Hagens' personal favorite is Rearing Horse with Rider, in which a man sits astride a similarly dissected and preserved horse, holding his own brain in one hand and the horse's brain in the other.

Many visitors said the displays were tastefully done.

"This isn't disrespectful to the dead at all," Gambrel said. "It helps people learn about diseases and what to stay away from. This is very respectful."

Yet some feared the display might traumatize younger visitors.

"This would be scary for little kids, too much for them to handle," said Sandy Szczecinski of Chicago, who watched a child cry and cower in fear until her mother removed her from the room. "The poses would scare them. They shouldn't let anyone under 12 in here."

Plenty of volunteers

The museum enforces no minimum age limit but requires children under 13 to be accompanied by an adult.

Von Hagens said each body donor voluntarily signed release forms before death giving him permission to use their bodies anonymously in his displays. He added that the current list of donors exceeds 6,500 people, and he welcomes all donations. Every body is different, he said, and he plans each specimen's dissection based on the body's unique features.

A future display will even involve an elephant that recently died in a German zoo.

When he dies, von Hagens intends to donate his body to the cause, as do half of his 300 employees worldwide.

"Certainly I will," he said. "It's a great feeling to know that after I die, I'll still be able to teach with my own body."

If you go

Because the plastinates are real human corpses, and since the specimens' genitals are exposed, the museum requires that children under 13 be accompanied by an adult.

Where: Museum of Science and Industry, 5700 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago

When: Through Sept. 5. The museum is open seven days a week from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

How much: Combined admission into the museum and the "Body Worlds" exhibit is $21 for adults; $11 for children 3 to 11; $17 for seniors.

For more info: Visit www.msichicago.org or call (800) 468-6674.

What they're saying

Museum visitors are encouraged to leave their comments at the end of their tour. Here is a sampling of anonymous remarks:

1. I didn't expect the human body to look so small and fragile.

2. Fascinating exhibit, one all smokers should see.

3. I can never be attracted to another human again.

4. How short the memory of man, how long the memory of plastic. Incredible and fascinating.

5. Should have had this when I was a kid I wouldn't have been a D student.

6. Yuck, you just made me a vegetarian.

7. This makes me want to keep my body as healthy as possible.

8. Very interesting, especially the part about fat. Makes me want to lose those extra 20 to 30 pounds right away.

9. There's a fine line between repulsion and fascination.

10. Under the shell of our skins, our bodies are all so similar, regardless of colour of skin!

11. We are fearfully made. Praise God.

12. I AM AMAZING AFTER ALL!

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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